Health

Officials from condom company Origami Condoms have created what they believe is the world’s first condom specifically designed for anal sex.

The company’s Receptive Anal Intercourse condom uses columns that expand and contract inside the body during intercourse. According to Origami’s website, the R.A.I. condom has two advantages over traditional condoms: "1. Easy insertion method that positions and anchors the condom internally and 2. The tubular structure of the condom provides a natural internal liner for the penis in the internally lubricated condom."

The site goes on to say that the innovative condom is "intended to facilitate a pleasurable and safe experience for both partners, increase its acceptability, improve sensation and comfort, and influence consistent condom compliance for those who engage in anal intercourse and are at risk for contracting HIV/AIDS, and STI/STD." The site adds, "It is intended to provide an alternative strategy to help prevent HIV/AIDS, STIs, STDs."

The Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization must approve the condom before consumers can purchase it. The condom began clinical trials in Boston in collaboration with the research department at the Fenway Institute. "Large-scale clinical trials will follow to determine its performance safety. It is expected to reach the market in early 2015, pending regulatory approvals," the site reads.

Regarding Origami’s other condoms, the company’s website says that their portfolio "represents the most innovative design concepts for barrier prevention in nearly a century. Generous research and development funding from the National Institute of Allergies & Infectious Disease and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) has supported the company’s R&D and three Phase I clinical trials."

Origami has condoms for women that are "designed to enhance sensation for both partners, improve ease of use, improve safety, improve direct tactile sensation, minimize slipping and breaking, and to accommodate a range of penis sizes."

In addition, the company created a new condom for men that is apparently "the first non-rolled, injection-molded, engineered, silicone condom intended to facilitate a pleasurable and safe sexual experience for the male wearer and his female partner." The condom also is supposed to "increase consumer acceptability, safety, comfort, and to increase consistent condom compliance for those who engage in vaginal intercourse." The condoms also aim to "protect against HIV/AIDS, STD/STI and it will also be tested as an effective contraception strategy."

All of the condoms are slated for a 2015 release, depending on regulatory approvals.